1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to material handling and unit opening automation systems and, more particularly, to a system that is intended to process flat-shaped mail, including envelopes, newspapers, catalogs, magazines, and other publications that meet U.S. postal service size and flexibility standards, which are secure in a bundle.
2. Description of the Background
There are various shapes, materials, and bindings used to bundle a group of printed matter. The U.S. Postal Service receives mail from business mailers and printers in bundled form, opens the bundles into individual pieces, and delivers each piece to its individual destination. The bundles vary by 1) binding type, which could be straps, string, rubber bands, or other material wrapped once, twice or more around the bundle or 2) polywrap mailing film around the bundle. Additionally, the individual mail pieces can be enclosed within a poly (plastic) bag for various reasons such as security, protection from damage, privacy, etc. After bundles are delivered to the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Postal Service must open each bundle, being careful not to damage the mail pieces, and prepare for sorting and delivery.
Over the past 5-10 years, the Postal Service has purchased different mail sorting equipment that has had the impact of consolidating mail bundles to certain sort points across the country, which means that more bundle opening is required.
The USPS contracted with Northrop Grumman and other vendors to design and construct a flats sequencing system (FSS). The purpose of the FSS was to automate the sequencing of flat mail for the purpose of reducing costs, absorbing growth and stabilizing postage rates. The FSS was introduced in 2008 but has been plagued by problems ever since. The FSS uses a dual pass sort technique. The first pass determines the address information, learns how many letters are to be sent to each delivery point, and starts the sorting process. During the second pass, mail from the original output is resequenced according to DPS. The USPS's $1.4 billion investment in FSS was supposed to revolutionize the labor-intensive process of delivering catalogs, magazines, newspapers, and other flat mail, but the system is still plagued by machine downtime, late deliveries, and other problems.
As a result of this, the Postal Service has expressed interest in a new technology that can automatically open bundles in order to positively impact their labor costs.
This patent presents a subsystem including method and apparatus to detect the mail bundle's wrapping material (for individually bagged items, e.g., poly bag and/or polywrap) around the outside of the individual pieces to form a bundle. The present subsystem is intended to support a mail unit open system that automatically opens wrapped bundles of either letter or flat mail.